Meeting Started at 3 P s2
GIS Council Meeting
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Department of Information Technology
101 East River Drive, Room # 1002A
East Hartford, CT 06108
Members Present:
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· Diane Wallace, Chairperson, DOIT
· Michael Varney, DOIT
· Cary Chadwick (for Emily Hoffhine-Wilson), UConn
· Daniel Czaja, DPS-OSET
· Stuart Fitzgerald, DECD
· Rich Gallacher, Town of Manchester
· Tyler Kleykamp, OPM
· Stephen Lowrey, Town of Tolland
· Eric Snowden, CRCOG
· Jim Spencer (for Robbin Cabelus), DOT
· Howard Sternberg, DEP
· Beth Stewart-Kelly (LTC Gerald Lukowski), Mil Dept.
· Scott Szalkiewicz, DPH
· Christina Walsh (for Derek Phelps), CSC
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Members Absent:
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· Anthony Andosca, CSUS
· Peter J. Boynton, DEMHS
· Wayne Kasacek, DOA
· Patrick Ladd, Town of Meriden
· Bill Palomba, DPUC
· Raymond Philbrick, DPW
· Louis Polzella, DSS
· Scott Roberts, Town of South Windsor
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Guest Attendance:
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· Steven Anderson, AppGeo
· Bernard Asimonye, DOIT
· Brenda Bergeron, DEMHS
· Lynn Bjorklund, USGS
· John Cassidy, ESRI
· Matt Davis, ESRI
· Thad Dymkowski, Newington
· Mark Goetz, NECCOG
· Professor Peter Kyem, CCSU
· Eric Madsen, DDS
· Michael Morin, NCO
· Aaron Nash, Vernon
· Bryan Pavlik, DPS-OSET
· Peter Sandgren, DEMHS
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Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 2:38 p.m. by Chairperson Diane Wallace.
Acknowledgement of New Council Members:
Chairperson Wallace mentioned two new members of the GIS Council: Peter J. Boynton, DEMHS and Louis Polzella, DSS. We look forward to meeting with them at future meetings.
Review of the November 18, 2009 Minutes:
Chairperson Wallace entertained a motion to accept the November 18, 2009 GIS Council meeting minutes as written. Council member Scott Szalkiewicz moved the motion and Council member Tyler Kleykamp seconded the motion. Chairperson Wallace asked for discussion; no discussion ensued. 13 members of the GIS Council were present and voting; all members voted in favor of accepting the minutes as written and the motion carried.
Data and Inventory Assessment Working Group:
Data and Inventory Assessment Working Group Chairperson, Jim Spencer, reports the group is working on the following activities and/or initiatives:
· The working group has taken more of a backseat to the subcommittees where several initiatives are underway with many members involved.
· Jim Spencer thanked Crissy Vieira, Clerk of the GIS Council, for her efforts in updating the GIS website, pages, and calendars for each of the Working Groups and Subcommittees that submitted information requested between November and December.
· The Transportation Subcommittee has its first meeting on March 18th and is moving forward on the development of the road work efforts for interstate routes, state routes, and state roads. There is a reorganization of efforts due to a shortage of resources and the subcommittee continues to search various avenues for funding.
· Rich Gallacher, Co-chair of the Base Map Imagery Subcommittee, reports that the Subcommittee met yesterday and discussed the status of the CRCOG Imagery flight. He informed the Council that Imagery was received, that he had a small list of volunteers, and addressed the Council for anyone else who may be interested in volunteering for the QA/QC. Anyone wishing to volunteer may contact Eric Snowden @ 860-522-2217, Ext # 17 or Scott Roberts @ 860-644-2511, Ext # 288.
The imagery information has just begun to come in and will be distributed for QA/QC to whoever is willing to take on a specific town. All remaining tiles are due by the end of February with each tile being 5000 X 5000’ so the accuracy of information is crucial. There will be an instruction sheet to be sure that all QA/QC are completed in the same way. The goal is to have the entire QA/QC project completed within the next month or two.
A question came up as to whether someone must be familiar with the town and that isn’t necessary, though it may be easier. There have been 2 or 3 engineers from a certain town who knew exactly where the problems were since they were already familiar with the layout. The main issues thus far are ghost images or features showing up where exposure isn’t smooth and with the accuracy of images lining up correctly. Thus far, there are no issues with the edges or coloring and it has been expected that issues with bridges, especially in Hartford, will appear.
Bob Baron’s group from DOT was volunteered to help with the QA/QC as well as the possibility of interns from the DEP.
· Dan Czaja, Chairperson of the Addressing Framework Data Subcommittee, reports that the survey went out and received approximately 35 responses. The deadline for respondents was January 15, 2010 but he is going to extend that deadline to March.
The Subcommittee finished the LUCA Census appeal last week. There were 96 thousand rejections for which evidence was found for more than 75 thousand addresses. There will be over 100 thousand new addresses added for the April 2010 census.
· Mark Goetz had no new report for the Cadastral Framework Data Subcommittee.
· Howard Sternberg would like to formulate the Hydrography Subcommittee in March. Please contact him if you are interested.
For more information about the Data and Inventory Assessment Working Group, please contact:
· James Spencer, Chairperson, Data Inventory and Assessment Working Group
860-594-2014
Email:
Education and Outreach Working Group:
Education and Outreach Working Group Chairperson, Peter Sandgren, reports that the group is working on the following activities and/or initiatives:
· The Working Group met last month and worked on the latest edition of the newsletter, set up a meeting schedule, sent in some site updates, and discussed further website page enhancements such as adding an index or something similar. They have also revised their mission statement and discussed what else they could contribute to the Council perhaps involving speakers in half of the GIS Council’s monthly meetings. Scott Roberts also came up with original ideas including document-based GIS usage and the use of GIS with police dogs.
· Mary Huda of the Connecticut Association of Assessors in the Town of Stratford will be attending the February GIS Council meeting to discuss how the Association utilizes GIS.
· Plans are already being formulated for GIS Day 2010. This year, GIS Day will be held at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), co-sponsored by Geography Department Professor Peter A. Kyem.
Professor Kyem addressed the Council and said that, in the past, CCSU has celebrated GIS Day on a smaller scale and is excited to join efforts with the GIS Council.
Chairperson Wallace thanked Professor Kyem and stated that the Council is looking forward to working with him.
Professor Kyem has other ties to the Council as both Peter Sandgren and Bernard Asimonye know him and Thad Dymkowski, member of the Education and Outreach Working Group and from the town of Newington, studied under Professor Kyem for 3 years.
There will still be an opportunity for maps to be displayed in a specific area of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) for the month of November in celebration of GIS Day.
· The next User-to-User meeting will be on Friday, February 5, 2010 at the MDC Training Center located on 125 Maxim Road in Hartford from 8:30 – 12:00 noon. The agenda is as follows:
8:30 - 9:00Networking
9:00 - 9:45Network business
· Recognition of out-going members
· Introduction of New President - Alan Sylvestre
· New Steering Committee Members
· Schedule of Meetings
· Network Input
9:45 - 10:00 Presentation Setup and Introductions
10:00 - 11:30 Aerial Photography in Connecticut: Past, Present, and Future
· Ben Spaulding, Progeos "How MAGIC Serves Digital Orthophotography"
· Eric Snowden (CRCOG) and Rich Gallacher (Town of Manchester) "Lessons Learned from the CRCOG Cooperative Digital Orthophoto Effort"
· George Pohorilak (Retired) - "Learning from the Past: Trials and Tribulations of the 2004 Statewide Flight"
11:30 - 12:00 Closing Remarks and Networking
· Peter also requested that anyone with information or articles for the next newsletter should contact Beth Stewart-Kelly @ so that she can include them in the future editions.
· Chairperson Wallace also wants to see the Working Group open its outreach efforts more broadly as well.
For more information, please contact:
· Peter Sandgren, Education and Outreach Working Group
860-256-0875
Email:
Legal and Security Working Group:
There was no report for the Legal and Security Working Group as they have not met to discuss any issues.
For more information, please contact:
· Brenda Bergeron, Legal and Security Working Group
860-256-0816
Email:
NSGIC (National States Geographic Information Council) Update:
Tyler Kleykamp, NSGIC representative for the State of Connecticut, reports that the mid-year conference is coming up:
· March 7-10, 2010
National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC)
2010 Mid-year Conference
Loews Annapolis Hotel
Annapolis, Maryland
Visit www.nsgic.org/events/2010_midyear.cfm for more details
For more information about NSGIC, please visit: www.nsgic.org.
Broadband Mapping Grant:
· The Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) was awarded $1.3m for Broadband Mapping and another $500k to develop a plan to collect data based on the federal standards from providers. The information will be presented online so that anyone can view whether or not there is access in a particular area. A portion was awarded to gather and compile information for the statewide parcel date; work will hopefully begin within a month or so.
· Jim Spencer thanked everyone, especially Tyler Kleykamp, for their efforts in the grant process.
New England LiDAR Grant:
· Michael Varney stated that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) took the lead on this project for Connecticut and discussed LiDAR coastal coverage from Maine to Pennsylvania with Michael Smith of Maine. A grant was submitted to the USGS and is seemingly positive in the process, though it takes time for the grant to be awarded.
Michael Smith of Maine had spearheaded the project and some states have been able to put extra money toward the project to expand coverage and an option may exist for that possibility in Connecticut; Michael Smith will let us know of any new developments.
Howie Sternberg of the DEP stated that the amount of extra money contributed by other states has been significant; Maine has contributed approximately $200k and Vermont has contributed approximately $250k to capture expanded areas for seamless images.
Michael Varney stated that he will have to speak with Michael Smith for the latest updates.
Howie also stated that we will have to have a plan as to what we will do with the LiDAR once it is obtained; perhaps we should put together a committee.
Lynn Bjorklund of the USGS stated that the USGS has to remain separate because of the process of awarded the grants. The timeline for compiling all of the information is September 2010 so the process is being worked on by the grants office of the USGS. It takes time so that no duplicates are created.
2010 Meeting Schedule and 2009 Annual Report:
· The 2010 meeting schedule was distributed at the November 2009 meeting and is posted on the GIS Council website. The 2009 annual report was sent via email to the appropriate parties and has also been posted online. There were no comments made on either subject.
New/Other Business:
· Council member Howie Sternberg discussed the new website CT ECO (www.cteco.uconn.edu) which was derived from a partnership between the DEP and UConn. The goal of the website is to promote sound decision-making between state and local government regarding natural resource information in support of Executive Order No. 15 providing an “…..Office of Responsible Growth within the Office of Policy and Management…..”.
The website provides interested parties with information on Connecticut Environmental Conditions Online (CT ECO) and the ability to share environmental and natural resource information with the general public. CT ECO's mission is to encourage, support, and promote informed land use and development decisions in Connecticut by providing local, state, and federal agencies, and the general public with convenient access to the most up-to-date and complete natural resource information available statewide.
CT ECO includes a variety of online maps and tools for viewing Connecticut’s environmental and natural resources such as protected open space, farmland soils, wetland soils, aquifer protection areas, water quality classifications, and drainage basins. Each can be viewed separately or in conjunction with other environmental and natural resource information. In addition, CT ECO includes several sets of high resolution orthophotography, the most recent from 2008.
A question was asked as to whether this has been formally announced and although the news of the website has been spreading informally, a formal announcement will be made soon.
A question was asked as to whether there are funds provided for maintenance and growth of the site. As of this time, the site is up-to-date with the latest information provided but future maintenance will have to be worked out with the CLEAR office at UConn.
All of this information was available in form or another; however it was never put together in this format in one accessible area.
Chairperson Wallace is looking forward to the future development of the site.
Acknowledgement of GISP Designations:
· Chairperson Wallace congratulated Dan Czaja and Bryan Pavlik of DPS for receiving their GISP Designations and would be happy to write letters on their behalf.
Other Business:
· Michael Varney requested that anything that should be shared or any updates that need to be made to website pages or calendars should be sent to Crissy.
· Tyler stated that we need to raise $400k for 6” orthophotography from the state and it would be a good deal if we could pursue it in the spring. He would need to know if anyone has funding by the end of January, otherwise it is something the Council could strive for in 2011.
· Lynn talked to the USGS intelligence agency and they may be willing to participate with the state where NGA would partner for 60% or more of the state where they have an interest. The may be able to offer a buy-up or offer 6” right away. All of this information is a ballpark approximation per square mile and cannot be finalized until it is decided that we will participate. For the 6” buy-up in Mass, it was $370 last year for 6” pixel, 4 bands, and included everything with Massachusetts distributing the imagery to towns. The state paid to expand to 1 foot pixel across the state for $125 per square mile including everything previously stated. It may be possible to buy what the state needs for $250k as opposed to $400k.
Lynn would have to wait until next week because the project last year included 6” buy-up pixel in 13 communities, $370 per square mile, though that was 6”pixels instead of 1 foot and that tightened up the accuracy. The USGS would do the QA but would want to have trusted local data. Lynn would have to get an actual estimate if we decide to pursue this.
The next step would be to formalize the request for an estimate and move forward with a proposal.
The USGS has started to produce topographic quad sheets in Connecticut with NAIP imaging with the Geographic Names and Places Working Group. This began with national data sets such as NAIP to first concentrate on mass production on the quads; the plan is update them in 3-year cycles. In the next year, they may also include topography with new LIDAR data and better state roads as they become available. These are available at:
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/b2c/start/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd)/.do.
Select the button on the right hand navigation pane to download the beta version with tools for acrobat reader. There are also older topographic maps available.